


Marked for Life

by Not_You



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Marking, Multi, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-05
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 14:57:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for this prompt on Avengerkink:</p><p>Who better to design a tattoo for you than someone who knows you?</p><p>Gen, pairings, whatever. Run nuts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marked for Life

1\. It takes a while for him to design Natasha's tattoo. At least a month to get over the sheer embarrassment of having admitted that he wants to mark them all as his own. It had shocked him, how willing the others were. How much they like the idea of belonging to him. At last desire wins out over shame, and he brings out his sketchbook and gets to work. The others notice him looking at hundreds of photos of black widow spiders, but no one says anything.

Natasha looks at the drawing for a long time. It's a spider, elegant and deadly and beautiful, slender legs encircling a little girl with Natasha's hair and features. The child leans trustingly into the creature's embrace, sweetness kept safe by a sleek and lethal protector. It's incredibly revealing, and he expects her to refuse. She's quiet for a long time, and then nods. "Yes," she says, "it's beautiful."

A week later she comes in from nowhere in particular with a gold scarf wrapped around her head. At an inquiring look from Clint, she pulls it off to reveal a perfectly smooth scalp, and the outline of the spider on the back of her head. Over the next week it fills in, detail work perfect. It's incredibly beautiful, and completely hidden when her hair grows back.

 

2\. Clint's is easier. He laughs when he sees it, and goes to the talented tattooist Natasha dug up to get Steve's design on his forearm, where his protective armband will hide it while he's working. It's a falcon in photorealistic detail, fierce and resolute. It has a piercing, thousand-mile stare, and perches on the seat of a unicycle.

 

3\. Tony follows Steve around asking about his until Steve threatens to hold him down and ink PEST onto his face. Tony coos that he'll get that on his ass because he's Steve's prison bitch forever, and Steve throws a cushion at him and storms out. He still can't really get a grip on Tony. At last, feeling flippant and silly, he draws a circuit board in the shape of a heart. Tony of course steals his sketchbook and falls in love.

"Oh my god that's perfect. I want it as a tramp stamp."

"You're not gay enough for a tramp stamp, Stark," Clint mutters.

"To say nothing of how little it suits your age and gravity."

"You calling me old, Widow?"

"Yes."

In the end he consents to get it on the outside of his hip instead, and tells them they should damn well be grateful.

 

4\. Thor loves the idea of being marked with Steve's art, and is almost as big a pest as Tony, so curious and eager about what Steve will choose. Meanwhile, Steve is looking at lightning and oak trees and feeling derivative. Finally, he reads some Norse mythology and gets a better idea.

Thor is delighted with the stylized goat design and approves of the runes around it, and has it done over his heart.

 

5\. Bruce is of course willing to wait. He barely even seems curious, but puts the lie to that with how quickly he looks up when Steve comes in with his sketchbook. Steve smiles, a little nervous.

"I'm really not sure what you'll think of it," he says.

"Let me see and I'll tell you."

He does, and there's a long silence. "...I love it."

The design is a caduceus, one snake made of flowing water, the other of searing fire. It looks strangely inevitable on the smooth skin of Bruce's left shoulder blade.


End file.
